I have a love–hate relationship with spreadsheets.
On one hand, they are one of the most versatile tools ever created for data storage and manipulation.
Notice I said storage first, and manipulation second.
Even though Microsoft initially created spreadsheets for data manipulation, they soon realised users wanted to use them more like a database and less like a legendary calculator.
This is because spreadsheets offer a very low barrier to entry for presenting information without forcing people to define deep relationships or structures between different types of data.
But they do not scale well with time, especially as the relationships between the data deepen.
Take my own love–hate relationship for example.
Spreadsheets are the glue, and sometimes the primary vehicle, for managing anything in product management when there is even a slight friction in an existing process.
This is beneficial in the short run, but becomes detrimental and an unnecessary overhead in the long run.
This has always made me wonder.
- Why is Excel treated as a one-for-all solution? How do we build something better?
- Why do product teams slide back to spreadsheets to manage their work instead of adopting better solutions?